How would they even begin to estimate what the percentile would be? It's not as though anyone takes the SAT except for potential private school applicants. There is no other pool against which to norm the individual test-taker...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is also, at the bottom of the scores, a percentage they give that estimates what the percentages would be if tested against the entire same typical school aged population in the entire country. That number is usually in the high 90%s for DC kids. However that number means NOTING to the private schools your child is applying to in DC.

Neither the SSAT nor the ISEE provide a percentile comparison to all children. There is no such comparison on my DC's SSAT score report and none described on the SSAT website for score interpretation. Maybe you're confusing the admissions tests with the ERB assessment reports?

The SSAT stopped providing that percentage in the Spring of 2014.

but SSAT used to do this (only a couple of years ago). You had two percentages.

Anonymous wrote:There is also, at the bottom of the scores, a percentage they give that estimates what the percentages would be if tested against the entire same typical school aged population in the entire country. That number is usually in the high 90%s for DC kids. However that number means NOTING to the private schools your child is applying to in DC.

Neither the SSAT nor the ISEE provide a percentile comparison to all children. There is no such comparison on my DC's SSAT score report and none described on the SSAT website for score interpretation. Maybe you're confusing the admissions tests with the ERB assessment reports?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think many do get between 90-98 but 99 or above are not as common.

Seems that many posters seem not to understand the SSAT scoring system at all. Exactly 1% of test takers get a 99th percentile and exactly 9% are between 90-98th percentile. The percentile is based on comparison to other test takers in the last three years. In contrast the WPPSI percentile is a conversion the test administrator applies to the raw score. There is no actual direct comparison on the WPPSI to other test takers, so it is quite possible that all the local psychologists give scores in the 90+ range. Also, the posters claiming their kids got 100 or higher are just pulling your leg. Here's how the SSAT report describes the percentile scores:

Your SSAT percentiles have a range of 1 to 99, indicating the percentage of other test takers who
scored at or below your scaled score. The first SSAT percentile compares your performance to the
performances of all other students in the same grade level who have taken the test in the last three
years. The second SSAT percentile compares your performance to the performance of other
students of the same grade and gender who have taken the SSAT within the past three years. If you
are concerned that your percentiles are lower than you have earned on other tests, please
remember that SSAT test takers are members of a small and highly competitive group of students
who plan to attend some of the world's best independent schools.

Yes, this is exactly correct. There is also, at the bottom of the scores, a percentage they give that estimates what the percentages would be if tested against the entire same typical school aged population in the entire country. That number is usually in the high 90%s for DC kids. However that number means NOTING to the private schools your child is applying to in DC.

Anonymous wrote:I think many do get between 90-98 but 99 or above are not as common.

Seems that many posters seem not to understand the SSAT scoring system at all. Exactly 1% of test takers get a 99th percentile and exactly 9% are between 90-98th percentile. The percentile is based on comparison to other test takers in the last three years. In contrast the WPPSI percentile is a conversion the test administrator applies to the raw score. There is no actual direct comparison on the WPPSI to other test takers, so it is quite possible that all the local psychologists give scores in the 90+ range. Also, the posters claiming their kids got 100 or higher are just pulling your leg. Here's how the SSAT report describes the percentile scores:

Your SSAT percentiles have a range of 1 to 99, indicating the percentage of other test takers who
scored at or below your scaled score. The first SSAT percentile compares your performance to the
performances of all other students in the same grade level who have taken the test in the last three
years. The second SSAT percentile compares your performance to the performance of other
students of the same grade and gender who have taken the SSAT within the past three years. If you
are concerned that your percentiles are lower than you have earned on other tests, please
remember that SSAT test takers are members of a small and highly competitive group of students
who plan to attend some of the world's best independent schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a high score!

If the "writing sample" is as good as the score, your child is in great shape...

I am really lost about this... almost every parent that I meet in my school is bragging that their kids got between 90 and 99% score ...so looks very weird to me... my son got 96 ..

I think many do get between 90-98 but 99 or above are not as common.

Anonymous wrote:Does SSAT only norm against privates or does it also norm against suburban publics or national publics as do some other standardized tests? If it norms against more than one group, that could explain how groups above saying 99% is common here and those saying it isn't could both be right.

It has both. So clear that most of these posters have never come near a private school, much less applied to one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you all should not worry about percentiles and tests so much. I attended a highly regarded private boarding school, got As and Bs and a few Cs, had mediocre scores and attended a top 20 university, graduated with a 3.8 GPA and have a masters degree. Life is what you make of it. Just because you get into a certain school does not mean your life will be sweet. You have to have the drive, determination and the parental guidance to do well. Lots of people never complete their degrees at Y/H/MIT/S/P.

Also agree. Life is not defined by standardized tests.

Yes but you probably never would have been accepted at that school today. College admissions are ridiculously competitive now and one C can doom a kids admission potential.